*Author's Note*
Thanks for the follows, faves, and reviews.
Finally, I got this finished and uploaded for you guys. Sorry about the delay, but I've been busy lately with Real Life. New job training and all. Lots of stuff to learn, so that drains all the inspiring writing juices and kind of tires my muses. Anyways, hope you guys enjoy this much awaited chapter.
Thick As Thieves
Gem POV:
"What'd your boss want?" I whispered to Brock as he came up to our table with a somber look on his face while servers were delivering slices of cake to the guests. I already had my slice and was nibbling at it. Darcy and Billy had theirs too along with the rest of the wedding party. I think I only got my cake so quickly cause I was sitting at Darcy and Billy's table.
"I gotta leave, an emergency mission came up." Brock answered me while taking his seat.
Gesturing to the plate of cake in front of Brock, Billy announced, "We got ya a piece of cake, sugar daddy."
"I don't eat cake." Brock slid his plate over to me.
Darcy's blue eyes widened in a horror ask she shrieked, "You don't eat cake?!"
"No. I haven't eaten sugar in a good 5-years." Was Brock's honest reply, causing Darcy to blink at him in a 'WTF' type way.
"He's on a strict keto/paleo diet." I quickly explained since I didn't want Darcy to make fun of Brock's strict diet. With her voluptuous figure and liking of Poptarts, Twinkies, and Cheetos, I had a feeling she'd find Brock's healthy lifestyle outrageous and would put her foot in her mouth with a blunt remark.
"Hmm, more cake for us, babe." Billy shrugged, snatching the plate from where Brock had slid it by me and placing it between him and Darcy so that they could share it.
"I gotta head on out to JFK soon. My boss called; he's sending my STRIKE team on an emergency mission." Brock announced to our group. Pulling his keys out of his pocket and handing them to me, he simply said, "If I'm not back at Billy's by 5 pm tomorrow you head on back to Culver, okay."
Taking the keys, I reminded him, "But I can't have a car at Culver."
"Bring it to my house and have a cab take you and Darcy back to Culver." Brock instructed me while Billy and Darcy polished off the slice of cake, they stole from him- might I add.
"If I wasn't shipping out on Monday, I'd offer to take the girls back, Sugar Daddy." Billy offered as an apology for me and Darcy being stuck driving back to Virginia alone.
I furrowed my brows at the Marine. "Stop calling him my Sugar Daddy, private dipshit."
"That's lieutenant dipshit to you, sugar baby." Billy smirked, not feeling bad or embarrassed at all for getting snapped at.
"Come on, Russo, let's hear your best man's speech." A marine from Billy and Frank's unit loudly, and drunkenly, called out.
"You ain't leaving til my speech's over, Chip 'n' Dales." Billy ordered Brock in a smartass, but friendly way, before grabbing his champagne glass and standing up. Billy took a quick sip of champagne before smiling at the newlywed couple and beginning his speech with, "There's no better brother then Frank Castle, let me tell you that." Looking around the crowd of guests, he carried on with, "We met at MCB Camp Lejeune during FORECON assessment and training. When I walked in the only available bed in the barracks was Frank's lower bunk. I went over and claimed the bottom bunk while Frank was on top, strumming some chords on his guitar while staring at his toe. I tried to say hi, but he just ignored me. So, I smacked his foot and said 'Hey, you big ugly bastard, I'm your bunk mate. Billy Russo; nice to meet ya.' And you know what he does? Looks at me and says, "You from New York." So of course, I say yea and we get to talking. Turns out between all of our talking about the best fucking place in the world, which if you didn't know's New York, and training we became brothers. We ran the gauntlet together; even got placed on the same squad." Billy took a quick sip of his drink before going on to say, "Usually one's got brains and the other's got beauty, but in our friendship, I got both while Frank's just the mean son of a bitch you want to have your back." Shaking his head, he smirked, "It's just dumb luck that he got married, but I'm happy he got lucky by chance tho. If anyone deserves to be happy with a nice girl, it's my brother. Frank." Lifting his glass up in the air and slightly tipping it at Frank, he ended the speech with, "I wish you nothing, but happiness, brother. Cheers to Frank and Maria."
"Cheers!" Everyone raised their glasses while Maria blushed and smiled. Frank even broke his intense resting face by cracking a small smile.
The entire ballroom drank to Billy's toast, prompting him to sit down. Looking over to Brock, he simply said, "You can go now, Sugar Daddy. Wouldn't want to keep SHIELD waiting."
"Be save returning to Operation CERBUS after the wedding." Brock told Billy before kissing me on the cheek and saying, "I won't be long, baby."
"I know." I lamely replied, thin lined smile on my face, as he stood up from his seat.
Without another word he walked away. I knew I'd see him again and soon-ish, but I still felt a bit sad that he had to leave the wedding early. I guess that's just a norm in the life of a STRIKE Commander.
Of course, Brock wasn't back in time to drive us back to Virginia. So, I was stuck driving to Norfolk with Darcy. As if driving Brock's Jeep was nerve-wracking enough, but doing it with my new roommate just added on more stress. Especially since she never shut up. All she did was talk and talk and talk. About the most random things too.
"So, you and Brock make a cute couple." The eccentric brunette next to me remarked, out of nowhere, as Sex on Fire by Kings of Leon blared out of the stereo speakers. Darcy found Brock's iPod in the Jeep and plugged it into the aux port in the radio. Everything on it was various genres of rock. "Your jack-booted thug has good taste in soft rock and alternative music."
"He's not my jack-booted thug, Darcy." I protested, earning me a raspberry from the girl next to me. "We're just friends." Actually, we were friends with benefits, but whatever.
"My sister from another mister, you're not 'just friends'." She did air quotes around the phrase just friends. Picking up her cup and sipping on the straw, she added in, "Not with how he looks at you like he wants to lick you from head to toe like an ice cream cone."
"Darcy!" I exclaimed, my eyes popping out of my head like a shocked cartoon character.
"What? It's true, he looks at you like he wants to lock you into a room and have his way with you."
"Does not." I quickly denied.
"He looks at you the same way that Billy looks at me, and believe me we have a lot of bunny bang bang time so…jack-booted thug really likes getting inside of your panties."
"Bunny bang bang time?" I asked, arching a brow.
She placed her cup back into the holder while saying, "Yea, you know, sexy time."
"We're not-" I began, only for Darcy to loudly cut me off with, "Don't lie, I can sense lies like a German Shepard sniffs out coke in people's asses in the airport.
Of course, Darcy picked up on me and Bock being fuck buddies. "He's a no relationships kinda guy so we fool around from time to time, but we really are just friends."
"You know the 'no relationship kinda guy' is just a cop out cause of the age difference. You're in college now and he's out there being a jack-booted thug; saving the world and shit. He's just trying to make you comfortable, but believe me he totally wants to be your main squeeze sugar daddy."
"No, he's a no relationship kinda guy cause his job doesn't give him the luxury of a set schedule and he can't find a woman to understand that."
"But he found you; you understand his hectic schedule." Darcy pointed out as a new song played on the radio.
"Darce-" I began only for her to cut me off with, "I get it. Really, I do since Billy's in an elite forces Marine Core unit and he's gone more then he's around. And from one jacked-boot's girl to another, all we can do is understand their hectic lives and be there for them." Grabbing her cup from the cupholder and taking a long sip from it, she added in, "It won't be long until ya'll are confessing your feels." Pointing her cup at me, she grinned, "I'm totally shipping ya'll too. BROMA!"
"BROMA?" I asked, a bit confused by the name.
"Brock and Gemma. You know, like Bennifer, oh or JoLu from General Hospital."
"Oh god…" I groaned out in a long, heavy sigh.
"I really like JoLu. You watch soaps, right? If not, well, we'll change that."
"I've been watching General Hospital since I was a kid. My Nonna has a thing for Luke while my Auntie Connie swoons over Sonny, but my Uncle Rocco kinda favor's him so…" I explained, trailing off and letting my final word of so just hang heavily in the air.
"Your uncle looks like a mob boss!?" Darcy exclaimed, sounding both curious and shocked.
"We're from Bensonhurst, so yea, he kinda does."
"Is he a mob boss?" She pried.
"No." I quickly answered. Maybe too quickly.
"He work for one?" She asked, placing her cup back into the cupholder once again.
Instantly, I gave the answer that was drilled into my head since childhood. "He's Don Salieri's person mechanic."
"Yea, I totally know what that means." Darcy eyed me knowingly. "So…does Brock know about your family being mobbed up?"
"Yea, he does." I nodded as some sot rock song came on the radio. "His Pops owns the local fight gym everyone trains at, so it'd be impossible for him not to know since my uncle uses that gym along with other mobsters."
"So, you met him at the gym and started hooking up? Shitballs, best gym visit ever since he's so muscly and hot." Darcy gushed, bouncing up and down in her seat like an child experiencing a sugar rush.
"Shut up." I mused, shaking my head at my roommate.
"No, I won't shut up." Darcy feigned offense. "You need to hear that he's into you. Very much into you that he screws you in the gym and lets you have girly road trips in his car."
"He likes me as a friend, that's it."
"You know, he has that vibe that he'd do anything for you. That's how caught up he is in you, sister."
"Um…" I bit my lip before looking at Darcy and asking meekly, "If I tell you something, you promise not to tell?"
"Who am I gonna tell? All of my friends left Willowdale to go to other colleges cause they just had to get away from Culver, you know cause they were raised around it and wanted more."
"The night before I moved to Culver me and Brock were fooling around and the condom broke. He got me Plan B right away, but, um, we won't know if it worked or not for a couple more weeks." I blurted out, why I don't know, to the closest thing I had to a friend right now: my roommate.
"So, there's a 50/50 chance he knocked you up." Darcy stated, not asked, as Bob Seger began to croon over the stereo. "Ooo, my man Seger!" Darcy exclaimed in excited, doing a little dance in her seat.
"Um, yea, there is." I confirmed. "He said if I am then it's my choice, you know, but he also said that's he'd take care of us too if…" I trailed off, not wanting to think about the 'if' part.
"Damn, girl, and you're sitting here claiming he doesn't care and you're just friends? Gem, he's into you. If not, he wouldn't have offered to take care of you and a hypothetical maybe baby."
"Yea…" I sighed. Grabbing my own cup from the cupholder, I asked, "Can we stop talking about me and Brock now?"
"Sure, but just to let you know, I wanna be the godmother. Oh, and Billy'll wanna be the Godfather." Darcy said, using her best Marlon Brando voice to say the word Godfather.
"I'll keep you posted." I dryly said, placing my cup back after taking a long sip from it.
"Playyyy-ing, playing with the boys!" Darcy sang at the top of her lungs while dancing and munching on curly fries from an Arby's drive-thru we just left a few minutes ago. "Of course, your sugar daddy jack-boot has the entire Top Gun soundtrack on his iPod. I mean, such a Navy thing to do." Looking at me, she grinned, "He looked hot in his dress uniform, didn't he?"
A large smile appeared on my face as I admitted, "Yea, he did."
"See, you admit your jacked-boot's hot."
"He's not my-" I protested, for the millionth time, only for Darcy to extended her fry carton out to me and interrupt with, "Yes he is. Curly fry?"
I just shook my head and snatched a curly fry. Deciding to talk about something safer, like school, I asked, "What classes do you have tomorrow?"
Darcy rolled her eyes and plopped a curly fry into her mouth. "Same as you, silly. We're both Poli-Sci majors doing the same prereqs."
Snatching another fry from her carton, I argued, "Doesn't mean we have the same schedule."
"We do." She firmly insiste. Pulling a long curly fry out of her carton, she added, "I hacked into your Culver email to scope it out."
"Darcy!" I shrieked, my chocolate eyes the size of half dollars, as I looked between her and the highway I was driving on.
"What?" Darcy shrugged. Placing the empty fry carton into the Arby's bag on her lap and pulling out my carton (since we were sharing the fries while I was driving) she explained her hacking with, "I get bored sometimes and I wanted to make sure you weren't some weirdo studying financial banking for even worse, nutrition, so I hacked into your account. I didn't do anything, just looked thru your old mail."
"We need to set some boundaries." I sighed. Grabbing a fry from the carton Darcy was holding, I firmly told her, "For one, stop hacking into my Culver account."
"Alrighty," Darcy nodded. Plopping a fry into her mouth, she went on to say, "but that's it for boundaries. I'm not a boundaries or rules person." She tossed another curly fry into her mouth. "I just like to wing it, go with the flow, and do whatever."
I gave her a puzzled look. "Why're you even a Poli Sci major for? You sound more like a, I dunno, liberal arts type."
"Poli Sci's got a broad pick for a career that gives me medical and a badass 401K plan. Plus, when Billy gets out of the Marines, he wants to open up his own security contracting firm; he'll need somebody to help him deal with schmoozing people and doing analysts." Darcy explained in length as she stuffed her face with curly fries.
"You two are really serious, huh?" I asked, smiling softly.
"Yep." Darcy popped her tongue. Grabbing her drink, she told me, "We were like magnets when we met; been crazy about each other ever since."
"That's sweet."
"You and Brock are like that too. Have a magnetic pull."
"Darcy…" I sighed out, dismissing her remark.
"Don't 'Darcy…' me. It's true, but you're just too stubborn or in denial to see it." Waving a fry at me, she grinned, "But I see it, oh how I see it."
"So, how did you meet Billy?" I asked, hoping that the change in conversation would get her mind off of me and Brock.
"A dating site." Darcy simply answered before going to detail her first date with Billy and other things from the beginning stage of their relationship.
Brock POV:
After the uber driver dropped me off at my house, I noticed that my Jeep wasn't in the driveway- meaning the girls were still on the road. It was dark out, so I decided to turn on my porch light and wait for them. The night air was a bit humid, but it wasn't like I wasn't used to it by now. I mean I lived in Norfolk longer than I did New York, so I grew used to the 'swamp' weather as my Pops called it. He hated the heat. I'm pretty sure that Gem'll be bitching about it when she experiences her first real Virginian summer.
I lost track of time as I sat on my porch, staring at the stars and waiting on the girls. Before I knew it, my Jeep pulled into the driveway. Gem was in the driver's seat while Darcy was in the passenger's seat, bobbing her head around to some music while her feet were propped up on the dash. Her and Gem were opposites, but they had the makings of a good friendship. Some of the best friendships form by opposites being thrust together. At least that's how it was when I met some Upstate New Yorker in my SEALS training. That man from Buffalo became my brother. Me and Rhett formed a bond so strong that only death could sever it.
That was the type of friendship I saw in the works for Gem and Darcy. A bond, almost sibling like, that forms by sharing similar experiences and needing somebody to unload on.
"Brock, you're back?" Gem asked, sounding a bit surprised, as she exited the Jeep while I descended my porch steps.
"Yea, got back not that long ago." I answered, making my way over to my Jeep as Gem made a beeline towards me.
"Great, now get in and drive us home." Darcy ordered, quickly going from the front seat to the back of my Jeep.
"You don't mind driving to Culver, do you?" Gem asked, standing a few feet away from me.
"I don't mind, baby." I assured Gem, closing the distance between us and slinging my arm around her shoulders. "If I did, I wouldn't 've waited for you."
She tilted her head, looking at me with a brow raised in disbelief. "You were waiting for me?"
"No, I just sit on my porch or an hour for no reason when I could be inside watching sports or something." I sarcastically replied. Smirking, added in, "Of course, I waited for you."
Darcy's head popped out of the back window. "Hey, lovebirds, let's go. I'd like to get some sleep before a cray cray first day of classes tomorrow."
"Get your head back inside my Jeep, Lewis. We'll be there in a minute." I ordered the eccentric brunette. It wasn't a bossy order, but very tongue-in-cheek. Darcy let out a huff before retracting her head from the window and flopping her back against the seat. "Come on, baby, let's get you guys home."
"Thank you for waiting for us, even tho you didn't have to." Gem smiled, lightly biting her bottom lip (driving me crazy), as I escorted her over to the front passenger's side.
"No problem baby." I naturally replied. "I'd wait for you even by the river Styx." I smirked, opening up the Jeep door for her.
"You know you're supposed to crossover with the Ferryman at the river Styx; not wait for others."
"Eh." I shrugged, scrunching up my nose. "Guess I'd be breaking a rule, but I'd wait for you anyways." I shut the door and rounded the Jeep to the diver's side. Opening up the door and sliding into my seat (which was pulled up high towards the steering wheel since Gem's shorter than me) I and asked the girls, "Have a good rood trip?"
"Yep." Gem popped her tongue as I adjusted my seat.
"We didn't get kidnapped by a crazy trucker and we jammed to your iPod." Darcy answered cheerfully. Yea, she was making a reference to a Paul Walker slasher movie. That right there is just proof that her and Gem's going to end up being best friends, close as sisters. Rhett, my SEAL brother, would've said something similar or at least dryly sarcastic.
"There's a Glock hidden under the driver's seat and a false bottom in the trunk full of some other weapons, so remember that incase you two run into a crazy trucker or anything while in my Jeep." I told the girls as I backed out of my driveway and drove down the road.
"Of course, you have a Glock under the driver's seat." Gem chuckled.
"I carry Dolly, my military grade tazer Billy got me, everywhere. I'm sure we would've been fine, but Daddy Jacked-Boot, it would've been nice to know about the arsenal tho."
"Eh." I shrugged. "Slipped my mind."
The girls erupted in a fit of giggles, causing me to just smirk and shake my head. Those two were going to be as thick as thieves, I just don't think they realize it yet.
I had a friend like that once. If Rhett was here, he'd be up by ass about Gem and her roommate Darcy. I'm certain of it.
AN:
I know, this was more or less a filler chapter, but I wanted to give Darcy and Gem some girl trip time before doing a small time jump (a couple of weeks) into the next plot point (or wrapping one up, really). I also wanted to show how Brock feels about Gem without him actually admitting those feelings. He's HYDRA, so he's not going to be very mushy about his feelings so…